#BoycottTheOscars Goes Viral: Spike Lee Boycotts the Oscars

Spike Lee calls for the boycott of the Oscars.

The call for a boycott of the Academy Awards are growing over the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences' second straight year of nominating mostly non-white actors, as Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith each said on Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend that they will not attend this year's ceremony. In a long Instagram post, Spike Lee said he "cannot support" the "lily white" oscars. Spike Lee said he was fed up: "Forty white actors in two years and no flava at all," he wrote. "We can't act?!" Spike Lee added: "The Academy Awards is not where the 'real' battle is," wrote Lee. "It's in the executive office of the Hollywood studios and TV and cable networks. This is where the gate keepers decide what gets made and what gets jettisoned to 'turnaround' or scrap heap. This is what's important. The gate keepers. Those with 'the green light' vote." In a video message on Facebook, Jada Pinkett Smith said she wouldn't attend nor watch the Oscars in February. Pinkett Smith, whose husband Will Smith wasn't nominated for his acting in the NFL "Concussion," movie said it was time for people of color to ignore the Academy Awards. "Begging for acknowledgement, or even asking, diminishes dignity and diminishes power," she said. "And we are a dignified people and we are powerful." She added: "Let's let the academy do them, with all grace and love. And let's do us differently." Last year's all-white acting nominees started a boycott, but nothing of this year's magnitude. Many of the boycotters were Twitter users but now the boycott is spreading to mainstream actors and filmmakers. And it had an impact, the 2015 Oscars ratings were down 16 percent from the year before, sparking a six-year low. This year, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs has made a point of creating more diversity. However, the lack of minorities nominated for an award made her feel "disappointed" in the judges. The February 28th broadcast will be hosted by Chris Rock and produced by "Django Unchained" producer Reginald Hudlin and David Hill. On Saturday, Chris Rock called the Oscars "The White BET Awards." The hastag #BoycottTheOscars has continued to go viral. Here are some of the responses on Twitter:

#BoycottTheOscars "Two fingers" @SpikeLee and @jadapsmith both announce they are boycotting the Oscars. We need to have their backs.

— Magnificent2 (@Indomitable69) January 18, 2016

#BoyCottTheOscars #OscarsSoWhite pic.twitter.com/sBSyeHcjbe — Leaders of Next Gen (@OurLNG) January 15, 2016

Any actor principled enough to #BoycottTheOscars? #Oscars #Racist #Hollywoodisracist @TheAcademy @LeoDiCaprio pic.twitter.com/BsIFgWOR9H

— Jozef Kuracina (@mojocanadian) January 14, 2016

@jadapsmith YES , we should #BoycottTheOscars #OscarsSoWhite pic.twitter.com/BshvB7tRXU — ? Rory Gage ? (@BlerdyBoop) January 16, 2016

If the Academy wants to ignore POC, then let's return the favor. Don't attend. Don't watch. Don't support. #BoycottTheOscars #reciprocity

— B. (@BMarie1) January 16, 2016

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